Archive | March, 2010

Due to overwhelming response for the North Texas Book Festival – over 100 authors will be in attendance - the festival has now moved from the Center for Performing Arts to the Denton Civic Center. Please come out and support our local authors!

NORTH TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL

APRIL 17th from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Denton Civic Center

321 E. McKinney Street at Bell Avenue

ADMISSION IS FREE!

The tenth annual North Texas Book Festival will begin the weekend festivities with the “Book Trails Dinner” Friday, April 16th at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for Visual Arts, 400 East Hickory at Bell Avenue. The dress is casual and tickets for the dinner are $25.00 a person. The North Texas Book Festival will be held Saturday, April 17th, at the Denton Civic Center, 321 E. McKinney St. at Bell Avenue.

Ahh, April… The snow has finally stopped, the weather is warming, and there is a welcome release from the cabin fever that drives us all outside. People take to the roads without fear of black ice skids and low visibility. With February’s hearts and flowers behind us and June’s wedding marches yet to come, what can get our hearts thumping and adrenaline rushing more than…traffic?

Nothing in our modern world brings about more irritation, frustration, or bad behavior than driving…except maybe politics! Want to really insult someone? Call them a lousy driver. Want to witness 3-year-old stubbornness in a 40-yr-old woman? Try to merge in front of her in a rush-hour standstill. Want to see a normally sane and mild-mannered gentleman turn into a testosterone-fueled raging bull? Put him behind the wheel of a pickup truck in…traffic.

The differences in traffic between countries can be startling, especially since it is such a universal activity and there is no universal standard. An example is the high degree of American irritation and blocking behavior brought on by those driving to the end of a closing lane and merging into the waiting traffic. In Britain, this is an encouraged common practice called Late Merge, and the ensuing “zippering” of traffic is highly effective, causing 35% less congestion.

In Texas, highway travel is ubiquitous and necessary, given the sprawling size of our state. To get to work, to school, to play, we find ourselves stuck in, dealing with, navigating…traffic. How is the traffic? There was bad traffic. Allow for the traffic! I’m late because of the traffic. While in Italy tailgating is seen as a sign to Move Over, which the tailgatee graciously does, here in Texas we see it as either aggressive road-hogging or as “drafting,” which really doesn’t work as well on highways as it does in NASCAR.

In Denton, we have our own Olympic-style challenges: The double-turn-lane-only-on-arrow slalom at Sherman and Carroll, the 6-name-change road course that starts as Cooper Creek and ends as Nottingham, and the enter-merge-exit triathlon at the Dallas Drive/ I-35/Lillian Miller cluster. Oh, and did you hear that there’s going to be more construction lane closures on the Loop? April Fool! (Not.)

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, nearly 80% of crashes involve driver inattention, 75% of drivers over age 40 have received at least one traffic citation, and 65% of the same age group have been involved in an accident…which makes the 80% self-rating of “above average” in a recent drivers’ poll both highly improbable and statistically impossible.

There’s an old saying: Everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot, and everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac. So unless you are driving exactly the same as every other driver around you, you are either someone’s idiot or someone’s maniac. Let’s find a median between idiotic and maniacal, and remember: If you think you are a member of the special percentage of above-average drivers who can drive and text at the same time, you truly are an April Fool.

Information and statistics courtesy of Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic – Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) My favorite quote: “Traffic is like a language. It generally works best if everyone knows and obeys the rules of grammar, though slang can be brutally effective.”

No more panic over lost keys

Remember when we were thrilled that technology had brought us that new little remote device to open our car doors? One click and the door opened, no key. That was an enormous leap for the auto and technology industries. Spring forward a couple of decades and now…no remote needed! You can start, lock and unlock your car just by pushing a button on your iPhone or iTouch.

Technology’s new Viper SmartStart application is introduced by Directed Electronics, already the leader in vehicle security and remote start industry. The application includes a receiver that is installed in the car. The simple interface gives you control over the features of your installed Viper remote start or security/remote start system: Lock/arm, Unlock/disarm, Remote car start, Trunk release, and Panic. You can also control multiple vehicles and assign more than one user to control a vehicle. Anticipation is that this will be great for families and it’s easy with SmartStart.

The Viper SmartStart is the latest example of automotive electronic functions migrating into Apple iPhone and other smartphones. Imagine your keys being locked in the car or losing your keys. Now there is no reason to panic, as long as you have your phone.

Viper SmartStart is available in Denton at Autosound & Security located on I-35 near Loop 288, and at Best Buy on Loop 288.

The mother of the bride is an important role, so your dress and outfit should reflect that for the special day. While the bride is the main attraction on her wedding day, the mother of the bride should also have special attention. Once decisions are made such as budget for your ensemble, length of dress, and wedding colors, you can start your search. It is best to shop for a dress six months before the event, if you have that much time, which allows you to casually shop without feeling rushed.

Only the bride should be in white or off white. You may have seen other mothers of the bride wear white to a wedding, but this is generally considered a major faux pas. Although gaining acceptance for wedding attire, it is still viewed inappropriate for the mother of the bride to wear black, no matter how good it looks or how slimming it is. Even dark shades of brown can be detrimental to the ambiance of the occasion. Your dress color should complement the wedding colors, but not exactly match the bridesmaid’s dress. Tones lighter or darker than their dresses are a good start. You may even consider silver, gold, or pastel, and choose solid colors over busy prints.

This is a great time to begin conversing with the new extended family. Many bride mothers coordinate with the groom’s mother to assure their dresses are color pleasing and have no style clashes. The next step is finding the right shoes. You will want something that matches or is the same tone as the dress and they are comfortable enough to stand in for several hours. Many times strappy heels look nicer with a formal dress than closed toe flats. Additionally, plan to treat yourself to a pedicure and manicure for the special day, especially if you select an open toe strappy shoe. Last but not least, plan the jewelry you will be wearing, particularly earrings, necklace, watch, and bracelets. The key to success is getting your entire outfit selected and purchased early, so you can handle other wedding matters. When the time arrives you will be ready to focus on the bride and her special day.

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Join us for our free public lectures on topics such as Weight Loss, Heart Health, Women’s Health and Stress. They are held Tuesday evenings at seven o’clock. There is limited seating, so please contact Peak Performance at 940-591-0700 to register and for more information.